What's up everybody! This is a DIY how-to on replacing the alternator on a 2008-2012 8th Gen. Honda Accord 2.4L. *DISCLAIMER: I am NOT an Master Tech, just a long time wrencher. Car in video is a 2008 Honda Accord LX.
For anyone having trouble installing the new one and getting bolt holes lined up, I cleaned the mounting ears with a wire brush and lubed them with wd40 and I could adjust it so much easier to get that lower 14mm in. Took me way longer than it should have lol.
Thanks for this I’ll try tomorrow cause this whole thing is such a bitch to do. I have the alt in there but the bottom bolt is taking so much effort I’m afraid the thing is cross threading or something. Hope to god it isn’t. 😢
My Goodness I just found the BEST Mechanic on RU-vid! You did not miss a thing! And you explained everything in perfect order. No stumbling over your words or next steps. And you kept it PG with no foul language. LOL on the battery terminal crap! Your a Natural teacher! Just had to subscribe so I can watch more of your videos. Now on to replacing an alternator for my sister. Thank You and wished we worked together.
Just replaced a 4 year battery thinking it was dying on me, the new one had a great start, then after a few days was behaving as the old one, hard time starting the car. On further inspection my alternator was intermittently charging going over 14V, then dropping to 12.6V (not charging, pulling from the battery). Time to replace the alternator. Thanks for the video!
Thanks for this. My husband and I are aircraft mechanics, not car mechanics, but figured from looking at it it shouldn't be too hard. Really appreciated you giving what size everything was. Got it changed in less than an hour
Thank you so much! This video helped me a ton tonight! It didn't take me too long to do it for the first time, either. That 14mm fought me for a while, but it finally gave way. I'm sincerely grateful for the thorough step by step instructions.
Great video! Extremely clear and precise. I'm having the exact same issue right now with my car and contemplating fixing myself or towing it to the shop.
Just changed my own alternator with no real mechanical experience besides doing oil changes & changing tires. Just wanted to say thanks, you saved me a few hundred dollars in labor 🙏
if anyone else is uncomfortable about the "feel it" torque spec: the upper, 8mm bolt (12mm head): 16ft lbs (22Nm) lower, 10mm bolt (14mm head): 33 ft lbs (45Nm) everything else he did was solid.
I'm curious, what all tools are needed? And about how long should it take, to remove the old alternator? And how long should it take, to install the new one? If you actually read this comment and you wouldn't mind replying, I would sincerely appreciate it. And thank you very much, for sharing this video. It seems to be very helpful. Keep up the great work.
Take a small Phillips head screwdriver and stick it thru the bottom hole to work the alternator back and forth to get it lined up. Use the screwdriver like a dowel to get it aligned. Also, when you put the bolt in, screw counterclockwise first (wrong way) until you feeel it “click” then you know the threads are aligned.
@@michaelchristmann4980 awesome man glad you got it done! But lol yea man the PS is in a bad spot im sure that’s probably what happened to the car in the video as well!
Diag/signs of bad alternator: Battery light comes on. Check volts on the battery and on the alternator with a voltmeter. Good battery should be 12.5 V car off and cold, 13.7-14.7 V while running, alternator should match battery V. If V are good from alternator but not the battery it is probably a bad battery. Car won’t start. Check volts on battery and on alternator with a voltmeter Check serpentine belt to make sure it is connected Check computer for codes Procedure to replace alternator -Remove battery connections (negative first, then positive, make sure the connections are clear) -Remove coolant reservoir to make space -move power steering fluid reservoir but do not remove -loosen the tensioner pulley to pull the serpentine/drive belt off the alternator - remove wiring harness (push tab in and pull to unplug) -remove 2-3 bolts (depends on year) that are keeping alternator in position (you can use a magnet to catch bolts, or hand loosen -Now the alternator will move, remove bolt from from the positive cable wire -Install new alternator in reverse order and replace items that you removed. Ensure serpentine belt is on correctly -Test new alternator and battery voltages
2011 accord owner here, man these 08’s had so much more space. Managed to get it off the mount but then realized that no matter where I try and pull it I can’t pull it out. As someone who’s never done this before, should I take out those front fans to make space then reinstall them?
Appreciate it! But every tool used was both mentioned verbally in the video, as well as outlined in text bubbles when mentioned. There was nothing used that wasn’t mentioned in the video!
I would say try to remove it once you have the alternator unmounted. So once alternator is off the bracket and you can freely move it, i would try to pop it off then because you have better access to it. You can also try to use a small plastic pry tool on the clip, or a metal pick or small flat-head, but you really wanna tread lightly when using a metal tool on the plastic clip.
@@TheOriginalBeeCee How long did it take you to fiddle with the alt until it came out? I’m at that step right now, everything else prior was easy thanks to you.
@@SJB956 maybe 2 mins tops? I recorded pretty much the entire removal process starting @ 9:39. Just make sure that A/C line is out of your way and not blocking you…and you should be able to work it out!
I’m having a lot of trouble actually getting the old alternator out it feels stuck and I’ve tried wedging the breaker bar behind it like you did with the pry bar but no matter how hard I pull wiggly or anything it will not budge. Yes I did take all two bolts and one nut out. If anyone could give me some ideas or if using a pry bar is the only way just lmk
Lol ive done my fair share of belts so that helped. But are you using a long enough breaker bar? That could be your issue if not. Make sure you are outside of the a/c line when pulling the breaker bar. Worst case scenario you could have someone pull the tensioner with the breaker bar…while you route the belt so you don’t have to focus on both.
Obviously I will have no choice but to subscribe thank God you're not a talker lazarbeam focus that's the way to produce a video some of these channels are ridiculous I really don't care why you had to move last week please let's get the transmission out of the truck
So if I slide out the power steering reservoir do I need to disconnect the lines to it or will I have enough room to slide it out the way , I more less am going to change mine in a parking lot and wondering if I should bring extra ps fluid or coolant lol
Did you change out the alternator pulley or was the old pulley the same size as the new one? Just put a new alternator on but the belt is not long enough to go back on and everything is still routed right
Same size. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of that issue. Might wanna take the alternator back off and sit them on top each other…pulley to pulley…to verify they’re the same. If they are the same, then something is definitely not right and i would go back over everything and double check.
Well with vehicles really anything is possible lol…so that could always be a possibility. I would probably say most of the time its going to be a bad alternator. But thats why you need to utilize a volt meter, and thats why i utilized one in the video and reviewed what to look for! Volt meters tell you almost everything.
I’m using a 1/2 ratchet extended with a 1/2 14mm basically the same technique and there is no room at all to even set the ratchet on the bolt idk how u made it look so easy to have it fit in there
Hey when I pulled the harness off there is a thin red and white wire hanging what could it be it's not the two main ones to connect it's part of the harness
Unfortunately I can’t say I know off of the top of my head what it is, as I only did the job on the vehicle….its not mine and I don’t have it readily available to go check for reference. But just from briefly looking I don’t believe there is red/white wire in the 4-pin navy blue alternator harness?
For some reason the 14mm bolt by the alternator belt is really hard to even loosen my belt. When i pull down it release some tension but the bolt never moves. I have to use a great amount of strength to keep it down . Can you help on to loosen the belt. You made it seem so easy . Btw i used wd40 in case it was rusty. Help
In your opinion does it matter if you buy it remanufacured or brand new? I noticed you installed a remanufactured and don't want to waste money if you think it is just as good.
OEM is more than likely always going to be better quality than remans. But I don’t mind remands and use them 99% of the time because if you ever were to have an issue with it…they have lifetime warranty & somewhere like autozone or advanced will swap them no issues.
Looks like this thing is spewing power steering fluid too, which is common with these. Mine leaked out of the pump and a ran down on the alternator for so long it hosed it (this had been going on long before I bought the vehicle). Edit: Missed that the reservoir is totally broken...how do they even have power steering?
Oh it was broken. It was only initially cracked…as you can kinda see @ 2:45, & you can obviously tell it had been leaking. I actually completely separated it, but it was already broken/cracked nonetheless. In between clip ending @ 3:02 & clip starting & 3:03 i literally put my index finger on that cracked outlet just to see how bad it was before I was gonna pull the res out, and the outlet completely separated @ the crack. The customer told me he had PS pump replaced not to long before this alternator issue, and said it was still loosing PS fluid pretty quickly. I told him i would check it out while i was in there doing the alternator and I noticed the reservoir. So it might have been cracked during that pump replacement, or age could have just simply taken its toll on the plastic.
Need to do some voltmeter testing and see where you’re at, and see if power is your issue. I reviewed what voltages should be what in the video, so you can use that for reference
Either electrically failed really bad, or its overheating/over-charging. could even be the bearing going bad, but you would probably be getting a bad belt squeal if the pulley bearing was bad. I would get it replaced immediately and not let it happen again though because it could potentially damage the rest of the charging system.
@@Jzzonem awesome, glad it helped! But as far as the PS I think something happened when it was towed because the person told me the tow-guy had the hood open and was looking around as if they were trying to figure out what was wrong and all that. So who knows lol
Prices vary, they’re all over the place. Depends on where you get it..if it’s aftermarket or OEM, etc., etc. Check out Advance Auto Parts, NAPA, Rockauto, etc.
Hi, I am interested in buying a used car in Delaware. If you are interested, we can catchup at Hak's sports bar and discuss good places to buy a used car. It seems like you are interested in this field.
If you want my honest opinion, there really isn’t a good place to buy a used car….especially these days. More and more cars that are potentially problematic…that would have probably been dumped at auction years ago, are now on dealer lots every where due to inflation, and the overall value vehicles are bringing in these days. That said, there are good used cars available…but you just have to find them. There isn’t one source/dealer that I would suggest and say, “go here..this place as a whole has good used cars.” Now I’m sure there are a couple-few good cars on various dealer lots….but I would say probably more are going to not be, and have had some type of history. The best way to find a good used car is good old fashion research. Start with finding a vehicle you like, that is generally reliable to begin with. I.E. Hondas, Toyotas, etc…NOT a GM with a 3.6, not a Nissan CVT, etc. Then, once you a find a potential vehicle, use CarFax to get a general idea of the vehicles history. You can even use sources like autoauction.io to see if the vehicle has ever been run thru an auction before..with the pictures to match. From there….if the vehicle history/CarFax checks out, and the vehicle looks good….the best thing you can do is get a pre-purchase inspection. This is a huge thing people miss, and how you get stuck with a lemon. Its better to spend $75-$150 on a inspection, than thousands and thousands on a lemon you’re now stuck with. Have it fully evaluated…should be checked for leaks, under-carriage damage, damage in general (potential prior wrecks), suspension play, tire condition, potential codes checked, etc. all before buying to avoid getting stuck with something potentially problematic. And if the dealer isn’t willing to allow you to get an inspection, then you have your answer right there.
